Wow, it's been one heck of a week. My Letter to the Editor was published in the Chico Enterprise-Record on 11/24/06. (http://www.chicoer.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4713568) On Monday, while I was contacted by Linda Watkins-Bennett from KHSL news and asked if she could interview me as a Chico citizen opposed to a homeless camp. The news was doing a series on Life In The Streets.
Tuesday afternoon, I met Linda at the KHSL building and we did a short interview. I answered several questions on camera about why I thought a homeless camp would not be a good idea and problems I thought would be associated with it.
They aired the homeless camp story that evening and I was cut down to one line and a short prelude by Linda. This is what the transcript reads:
But residents like Adrian Leung don't like the idea. He says attempts at camps in places like Sacramento don't work. and he's worried that the homeless who are being driven out of bigger cities like San Francisco, will re-locate here because of the camp.
Holcombe disagrees. "it's been proven time and time shelters don't draw people to the community. They serve people already here and if nothing else, successfully reduce homelessness by connecting to services over time,"
Notice Holcombe says "SHELTERS" not camps. Nice politician's play on words to confuse the audience. Yeah, shelters serve the people already here...but be assured, if you build a camp, they will come. And once it's established, and proves that it is not successful, good luck on getting it disbanded.
I sent in a rebuttal/clarification letter immediately to KNVN/KHSL and the Chico Enterprise-Record which they printed on 12/02/06 - (http://www.chicoer.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4759538). I also contacted Butte County Supervisors Josiassen and Dolan concerning a proposed site at 1525 Dayton Road. The both replied quickly and were very receptive to my concerns. I won't be posting their replies but I can be contacted at ajleung@comcast.net for information regarding their thoughts.
Ah, the battle continues...
